Newsletter

The live-in ranch manager of a west Lubbock County equestrian facility will get piece of mind once County Commissioners let the property's owner take over about a quarter-mile of a dead-end gravel road near Erskine Road.

And Patti Jones, commissioner of Precinct 4, and the county's public works director said the deal is a good one for the county, which saw the road installed in 1987 for property development.

That never happened, said Nick Olenik, county director of public works.

Other than folks attached to Brigadoon Stables, only lost drivers traverse what essentially amounts to a cul-de-sac, said Brandon Helton, who's responsible for monitoring 10 horses, a barn filled with equipment, several trailers and other equipment at Brigadoon Stables A.

"It would help me sleep at night," he said, adding the occasional lost motorist puts him on alert.

On Monday, commissioners gave an initial nod of approval to the plan, prompting a public hearing at 10:15 a.m. Oct. 22 to close that stretch of County Road 6520.

Jones said the hearing is more of a formality because she's unaware of anyone opposed to the road's closure.

The owner of Brigadoon would install a gate across the road and install a turnaround area at the end of the remaining several hundred feet of the road left under county maintenance.

Closing the road would help sure-up a deal to sell about 10 acres of the property to a prospective buyer interested in opening a stable just north of the gravel road.

The buyer declined to identify himself or talk specifics of the deal when contacted Tuesday afternoon.